Apparatus for the dehumidifying masonary works

ABSTRACT

Electrical conductors wound into coils (4, 5) are disposed in a housing (1). The axes of the coils (4, 5) run perpendicular to the base of the housing. Each coil (4, 5) is connected with a capacitor (2, 3) so that oscillatory circuits are formed. The longitudinal axes (10, 11) of the capacitors (2, 3) cross the coil axes at right angles and consequently run parallel to the base of the housing. In one (4) of the coils (4, 5) a permanent magnet (6) is inserted. Each coil has its own number of windings, its own outer diameter (15, 16), and advantageously its own inside diameter (18, 19). The oscillatory circuits are closed or opened by a switch (12). The oscillatory circuits are excited by the interfering fields present and generate in their turn a counter field. The process conforms essentially to the Lenz law of physics, according to which the reaction produced in the apparatus counteracts, and in the ideal case eliminates, the stimulating field action which produces it. As a result, the water in the capillary of the walling can no longer rise and the walling dries out in natural ways.

The invention relates to an apparatus for the dehumidifying masonaryworks in the case of dampness rising in the walling, which apparatuscomprises capacitors and electrical conductors wound into coils, each ofthe two poles of a particular capacitor being connected to one end of aparticular electrical conductor wound into a coil.

Considerable damage is caused in the walling of buildings by rising dampdue to, for example, ground water, dammed-up water, percolating water orwaters flowing underground.

Since all building materials are more or less porous, they take in thewater because of their capillary action, with the result that the lattercan rise within the walls.

Due to the osmotic pressure, the open circulation of water in a wet wallis conducted from the bottom to the top and at the latter point, byevaporation, to the outside. As a result of this transport of water anelectric field is built up in the direction of the rising damp, and thisfield acts as a pump.

Damp walling leads not only to structural-engineering damage such aspartial decay, crystalline blooms, encrustation etc., but can also leadto illnesses, e.g rheumatism, asthma, infectious diseases, etc., amongpeople who reside in buildings with damp walling and in particular, avery uncomfortable room climate is also produced in such buildings.

The combating of rising damp in walls by inserting insulating layers isknown. Various so-called electroosmoses methods are also known whichgenerally require considerable structural measures, cannot be carriedout at any point and without difficulty (drilling in house walls), andin many cases bear no relationship to the success achieved.

If the surfaces of two materials move past each other (friction), thetwo materials charge up electrically in the opposite sense at theirboundary layers. If one material has a higher electrical conductivityunder these circumstances than the other, then the first charges uppositively and the second negatively.

If water moves in capillary walling, its electrical charge is oppositeto that of the walling. An electrical potential difference, the ZETAPOTENTIAL, arises between the two boundary layers. In thesecircumstances the water is drawn up in the capillaries by the oppositeelectrical charges and consequently wets wide areas of the walling.However, still other factors also have an influence, inter alia thesalts dissolved in the water, the ionization of the air, etc. In thespecialist world it is assumed that all these factors are influenced bythe water conditions in the soil because underground flowing water isknown to result in electric and magnetic fields which vary considerablyin their strength, as a result of which the electrical conductivity ofthe water varies. In particular, these natural stimulated fields andincreasingly also so-called civilization stimulated fields arising fromtechnical installations (e.g high voltage lines laid in the ground etc.)act as further causes.

Depending on geophysical circumstances these stimulated fields extendover widely spread-out areas or stimulation zones. Now if such a zoneextends through a building, the stimulated field becomes extremelyinhomogeneous. In electrically insulating walling the field strength isgreater than in the internal space it encloses, which fact results inthe transport of the water molecules because of the strongly dielectricproperties of water, either rising in the walling itself by capillaryaction or by diffusion to the walling from the air. This is the cause ofthe dampness formation.

As regards the physical nature of the stimulated fields, the specialistworld, according to the latest knowledge, harbours the presumption thata stimulation zone represents a region in which strong activity of quietatmospheric discharges prevails. These discharges have the character ofcharge fluctuations or of dipolar excited states, the description ofwhich falls within the province of quantum physics. They appear to berelated to the mechanism of the interval in atmospheric lightningdischarges.

Now, apparatus in accordance with the preamble of patent claim 1 (U.S.Pat. No. 4,418,481) are known.

In these, 1-2 capacitors and 1-2 coils connected in each case therewithare present. In this connection the directions of the axes of the coilsdiffer from one another, and these apparatus affect the electric earthfield. It has emerged in practise that the rising of dampness in wallingcan be prevented by such apparatus. A precise, final technicalexplanation for this effect cannot yet be provided, but it is presumedthat these apparatus respond to characteristics or to changes of theelectric or magnetic earth field and in their turn form an influencingfactor which counteracts the soil dampness rising in the walling. Theseknown apparatus require no energy supply apart from that of the earthfield. However, they exhibit an important defect in that they arestrongly dependent in terms of their siting on local factors and usuallytake account only of the electric or only of the magneticcharacteristics of the earth field, and as a result of this still toomany failures or partial successes are achieved.

The invention is intended to provide a remedy in this connection. As itis characterised in the claims, the invention achieves the objective ofproviding an apparatus for the dehumidification of walling in which theabove named factors are allowed for in a manner such that the apparatusfunctions satisfactorily in every case in which these conditions andfactors are present and can be used without failures.

The advantages achieved by the invention are in essence to be seen inthat the apparatus is absolutely insensitive to the precise orientationand height of its location in relation to the position of the maximum inthe interfering field. It has been found that it was possible to use theapparatus satisfactorily and with success at the points at which theapparatus mentioned in the introduction were unsuccessful, which permitsthe use of the apparatus anywhere where perceptibly rising dampness ispresent and, in fact, independently of the constellation of theinterfering field present, i.e. the interfering field may be ofmagnetic, electromagnetic or electrical nature or be formed as aninteraction of these forces.

The invention is explained below by reference to several drawingsrepresenting embodiments:

FIG. 1 shows a section along the line I--I of FIG. 2, a first embodimentbeing shown;

FIG. 2 shows a section along the line II--II of FIG. 1 of therepresentation of a first embodiment;

FIG. 3 shows a representation similar to FIG. 2 of a second embodimentwith three coils; and

FIG. 4 shows a representation similar to FIG. 1 of a third embodimentwith printed circuits for the coils.

The apparatus comprises a housing of an electrically non-conductingmaterial, which housing is denoted in all the figures by the referencenumber 1. According to the embodiment drawn in FIGS. 1 and 2, a firstcapacitor 2 and a second capacitor 3 are disposed in the housing 1. Afirst conductor wound into a first coil 4 and a second conductor woundinto a second coil 5 are further present. At one end the first capacitor2 is connected to one end of the first coil 4 and at the other end tothe other end of the first coil 4, and at one end the second capacitor 3is connected to one end of the second coil 5 and at the other end to theother end of the second coil 5. This results in circuits forming twooscillatory circuits. In the centre of the first coil 4 is disposed, inaddition to the first capacitor 2, a permanent magnet 6. The centre axes7, 8 of the coils 4, 5 run perpendicular to the base 9 of the housing 1forming the supporting surface of the apparatus. The longitudinal axes10, 11 of the capacitors 2, 3 cross the centre axes 7, 8 of the coils 4,5 at right angles and consequently run parallel to the base 9 of thehousing.

In order to be able to put the apparatus into operation or to take itout of operation, each oscillatory circuit is allocated a switch 12.Here a multiple switch may be present so that by means of operating, forexample, a push button both oscillatory circuits can be closed orinterrupted.

The apparatus shown in FIG. 3 differs from the version shown in FIGS. 1and 2 in that a third coil 13 is present. This third coil 13 isconnected to the first capacitor 2, and is therefore connected inparallel to the first coil 4. The axis of the third coil 13 coincideswith the axis of the first coil 4.

The coils 2, 3 or 13 of the versions shown in FIGS. 1-3 are formed bywound conductors. Such a conductor may be insulated wire, e.g. a copoerleitz wire or an enamelled copper wire. The coils may also be partlyformed by a printed circuit, a version being drawn in FIG. 4. All thecoils 2, 3 and also 13, if a version with three coils is present, oronly one coil may be formed as a plane printed circuit.

In the version which is drawn in FIG. 4, the first coil 4 and the secondcoil 5 are formed as printed circuits. Again a permanent magnet isdisposed in the first coil 4. Here again the longitudinal axes 10, 11 ofthe capacitors 2, 3 cross the centre axes of the coils 4, 5 at rightangles. However, in the version shown in FIG. 4 the capacitors 2, 3 areto be considered as laid on the coils 4, 5 and not as surrounded by thecoils 4, 5 as is the case in the versions according to FIGS. 1-3.

The housing 1 of all the versions consists of an electricallynon-conducting material, in particular of plastic material in order toavoid screening of the earth field or of the interference fields actingon the apparatus. A cover 14 (see FIG. 3) seals off the housing 1, andthis cover 14 may be provided with holes or slots to improve energytake-up or energy release.

The term "coil" is to be understood in the sense of an electricalinductance The particular capacitors 2, 3 form with the respective coils4, 5, 13 a virtually damping-free electric parallel oscillatory circuit,which in essence complies with the Lenz law of physics, according towhich the reaction produced in the apparatus counteracts the generatingstimulated field action and in the ideal case eliminates it. Theoscillatory frequency of the particular oscillatory circuits lies ingeneral in the range of 10-44 kHz or 30-150 MHz. The size of thecapacitors lies in general between 0.1 and 2.5 μF. The coils in eachcase comprise several windings, at least three windings.

The outside diameters 15, 16, 17 of the coils 4, 5, 13 (see FIGS. 1 and3) are each of different size. In other versions the inside diameters18, 19, 20 are in addition also of different size.

The dimension (outside diameter-inside diameter=MD) of the mean diameterMD (see the coil on the right in FIG. 1 (the smallest coil)) is at least5 cm.

In order to prevent individual components in the housing 1 being able tomove, for example if the apparatus is shaken, the housing 1 isadvantageously filled with synthetic resin. In addition, the housing 1and the lid 14 may themselves be manufactured from synthetic resin. Thefilling of the housing forms a reinforcement of the walls of thehousing, the individual components being cast in synthetic resin.

The apparatus is also capable of functioning if the capacitor is removedby not more than the mean diameter MD of the particular coil from thecentre of the latter.

To use the dehumidification apparatus the interfering field is firstlocated at the point of use by means of an apparatus which indicateselectromagnetic waves, or its field strength is determined. Theapparatus must not then be sited directly on the stimulation strip of aninterfering field or at the maximum field strength point, but next tosuch a point, and put into operation by completing the circuit byoperating the switches or switch 12. The range of an apparatus may be upto several hundred meters.

The central arrangement of the capacitors relative to the coilsallocated to them makes the apparatus more independent of its sitingposition and of its siting direction.

The oscillatory circuits disposed in the apparatus are excited by theenergy of the interfering fields present and in their turn generate acounter field. As a result of the interference of the fields now presentthe latter are so strongly reduced, at least within the scope of thedetectability at present known, that as a result a measurable reductionof the electrokinetically produced potential difference and theconcentration of atmospheric ions occurs, which has the result that thewater in the walling can no longer rise and the walling can dry out innatural ways.

I claim:
 1. Apparatus for the dehumidifying masonary works whichcomprises capacitors and electrical conductors wound into coils, each ofthe two poles of a particular capacitor being connected to one end of aparticular conductor wound into a coil,wherein at least a first and asecond coil and at least a first and a second capacitor are present, thefirst capacitor is connected to the first coil and the second capacitorto the second coil, the axes of the coils run parallel to each other andthe longitudinal axes of the capacitors cross the axes of the coilsconnected to them, and the coils are different in their outer diameterand their number of windings.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein apermanent magnet is disposed in the centre of at least one of the coils.3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the coils are different in theircore diameter.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein each coil comprisesat least three windings.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein theelectrical conductors forming the coils are insulated.
 6. The apparatusof claim 1 wherein the coils are formed of windings of insulated wire.7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein at least one coil is formed from aprinted circuit.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the capacitors andcoils are disposed in a housing of electrically non-conducting material,which housing has a support surface, and the longitudinal axis of eachcapacitor runs normally to the axis of the respective coil and parallelto the support surface.
 9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the housingis completely filled with a synthetic resin which supports the coils andcapacitors.
 10. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein a third coil connectedto the first capacitor and wired in parallel to the second is present,and the axes of the first and third coil coincide.